—Al-Jazeera: Doha-based Arabic TV news al Jazeera has launched its first iPhone app costing $2.99, which is made in partnership with VOD company Livestation and indexes text news in English. Via ipodnn.com.

—Audioboo: The British “audio blogging” platform has become the second iPhone app to integrate with Spinvox’s voice-to-text technology, allowing five minute clips of text speech to be converted to emails. The QuickVoice app started using SpinVox’s API in May and the company says more than 550 companies have also applied to creating apps using it on several platforms. Release.

—Aepona: Belfast, Northern Ireland-based telecom software developer Aepona has bought Dublin-based mobile payments systems provider Valista. The deal—the amount isn’t disclosed—creates an enlargened Aepona business which will target mobile and telco operators globally with services including open APIs and billing services. Release.

—Cricket app: It might have escaped the attention of most Americans, but cricket is big news in England and Australia this week as the two nations go head-to-head in the Ashes series. The England and Wales Cricket Board has released a free iPhone app to mark the occasion, with live scores, news, video reports and pictures. The app is developed by London-based theothermedia, which also re-launched the EBC site. Release.